


When Starlight Fades

by Cerillen



Series: Chronicles of an Anxious Protector [15]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: But I will not, Gen, I am here to make you suffer, Y'all thought the angst was over, You thought I'd give it a break, if anything, it's just getting worse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-08-16
Packaged: 2019-06-16 00:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15424878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cerillen/pseuds/Cerillen
Summary: There's a glitch in the matrix and nobody knows how to fix it.





	1. Chapter 1

Virgil and Patton were close.

This was a simple fact that everyone knew.

It was pretty easy to see, after all.

They were almost always together and both would always jump at the chance to be together or even just talk about the other when they were apart.

If you looked for one you were usually bound to find the other.

And they always seemed to be having a good time together.

Even in their most horrible of moods, they seemed to make each other feel better in some way.

But, this wasn’t always the case.

There had been one incident where they’d actually hurt each other.

Only one, but it was more than enough as far as everyone was concerned.

This one incident had caused so much pain and turmoil that it was forever known simply as “The Glitch”.

The Glitch started on a day like any other.

Roman was watching a movie in the living room with Deceit.

Logan was in his room, working on Thomas’ schedule for the next week.

Thomas was in his own living room, watching a movie as well.

And nobody actually knew where Virgil and Patton were at the moment, but everyone assumed that they were probably just in somebody’s realm having a sleepover again.

At least, they  **did**  assume that, until a door in the upstairs hallway slammed open and Patton came stomping down the stairs.

While sniffling and wiping away tears.

“Patton! What happened?! Are you alright?!”

Roman immediately sprang up from the couch but froze right after when the moral side flinched away from him.

Deceit remained silent on the couch behind him as Patton quickly took a couple of deep breaths to make himself calm down.

“Sorry. I’m fine, Roman. I just-”

“Why are you lying?”

Patton flinched again at Deceit’s interruption.

“What?”

Deceit looked quite genuinely confused, and a little concerned, as he responded.

“You didn’t just lie about your emotions, Patton.”

The moral side moved back a little and started tugging at his fingers, his eyes refusing to look at the reptilian side in front of him.

“I-”

“Didn’t you promise Virg-”

“DON’T TALK ABOUT HIM!”

The room was filled with shocked silence for a moment.

Roman and Deceit both stared at Patton with wide eyes as the father figure trembled with, what seemed to be, rage.

Tears started to leak from his eyes again and he quickly wiped them away before stomping over to the kitchen without a word.

The silence was broken slightly by the sound of him turning on the sink to aggressively clean his tear-stained face.

When the water eventually turned back off, Roman carefully approached the angered side once more.

“Pat-”

Roman jumped and almost screamed out loud when Patton slammed his hands against the counter top,  **hard**.

“ROMAN! I SAID I DON-

“Pat…”

Roman jumped again and Patton stiffened.

Virgil walked slowly into the kitchen and stopped a few feet away from his best friend.

Patton remained silent and refused to look at him.

Virgil stood and stared at him for a moment before he sighed and spoke.

“Pat, I didn’t mean to upset you, okay? I just-”

There was an almost thunderous smack and Roman felt his jaw drop.

Deceit’s jaw also dropped for a moment as he stood beside a shocked still Logan, whom he’d left to retrieve in the hopes of getting help with the situation, before he sank out of the room a second time to get Thomas.

Virgil stood as still as he had before, his face hidden almost completely by his bangs.

And Patton stood in front of him, his palm turning pink from the force of his strike, his eyes filling with more tears, and his chest practically heaving.

Then he shouted and Roman and Logan felt like the world had somehow just flipped upside down.

“YOU’RE A MONSTER!”

Virgil’s fists clenched, but he otherwise remained still.

Which seemed to only make Patton angrier as he took a step closer to him and continued to shout.

“YOU ARE  **NOT**  ALLOWED TO SAY THAT! YOU WERE  **NEVER**  ALLOWED TO SAY THAT! NOT THEN AND NOT NOW! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?! YOU ARE  **NEVER**  ALLOWED TO SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT **AGAIN**!”

His screaming voice shook and Thomas stared with wide eyes as he watched his Morality scream angrily at his Anxiety.

“HOW  **DARE**  YOU! HOW  **DARE** YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT! HOW DARE YOU EVEN  **THINK**  THAT!”

“I just-”

“NO, VIRGIL! YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO SAY THOSE THINGS!  **ESPECIALLY**  TO ME!  **NEVER**  TO ME! NOT AFTER EVERYTHING WE’VE BEEN THROUGH! YOU DON’T SAY THINGS LIKE THAT TO YOUR  **BEST FRIEND**!”

Patton’s voice broke at the end of his sentence and Virgil took an instinctive step towards him.

He froze again when Patton took one back in response.

The moral side was outright crying now and he shook violently as he wrapped his arms around himself.

Logan twitched suddenly and everyone else had to track his eyes to see what he was looking at.

Deceit stiffened, Roman brought a hand up to his mouth, and Thomas took a sharp inhale.

There was blood dripping onto the floor.

Only a slow drop at a time, but there was still blood falling.

Virgil’s hands were clenched impossibly tight and he didn’t even seem to notice the warm liquid pooling in his fists.

“What did you even think I was gonna say?”

Virgil flinched and the blood started to fall faster from his hands.

“…I don’t know.”

Patton sobbed and Virgil started to shake.

“Why…why don’t you know?”

Patton looked up at him with a broken expression.

“Did you not believe me the first time?”

Virgil didn’t answer.

“…am I that bad of a friend?”

**_“NO!”_ **

Virgil’s voice was distorted and shadows licked up out of his back for a moment before he forced himself to calm down.

“No. You’re not a bad friend. You’re a great friend, Patty.”

“Then why? Why did you ask me again?”

There was silence as the two emotional sides stared at each other.

But then Virgil took a shaky breath and walked forward, Patton matching him step for step until he was cornered against the stove behind him.

They continued to stare, never breaking eye contact.

Then Virgil whined deep in his throat and fell to his knees.

His arms reached up and wrapped around Patton’s waist.

Patton’s breath hitched and he only seemed to cry harder as Virgil warbled sadly into his best friend’s stomach.

“I’m sorry.”

“Virgil.”

“I don’t know, okay? I don’t know why I asked you that. I just…felt like I needed to. And I needed to know the answer.”

“…why?”

Virgil’s warbles stuttered and he squeezed Patton a little tighter as he choked on a sob.

“Because it’s  **important** , Patty. Because it could happen.”

“DON’T-”

_**“I DON’T WANT IT TO!”** _

Virgil’s shout made the room rumble and the others had to grab onto each other to keep themselves steady.

**_“I DON’T WANT TO DISAPPEAR!”_ **

The room got a little darker and the shadows writhed from his back.

**_“I DON’T WANNA LEAVE YOU GUYS! I NEVER WANTED THAT! BUT-”_ **

Virgil hiccuped and, after a moment of quiet sobbing, the shadows receded once more.

“But it might happen. I’m not always stable and I have to keep Thomas safe. No matter what it takes. And it worries me sometimes. I think about what could happen and I think about how you guys’ll react and…it scares me.”

Patton flinched violently and Virgil squeezed him again.

“I’m scared, Patty.”

“Virgil…”

“I don’t want you to forget about me.”

And Patton finally slid down and onto the floor as well, wrapping his own arms around his best friend as they cried against each other.

“I would  **never**  forget about you, Virg. No matter what happens to either of us, I promise that I will never forget you.”

“You can’t promise that…”

Virgil hiccuped as Patton squeezed him as hard as he could.

“I **can**  and I  **will**. Just you watch me. I will  **never**  forget you, Virgil. I swear on everything I am that I will never  **ever**  forget, okay? I promise.”

Virgil remained silent and Patton started to nuzzle his hair.

“I promise. So you don’t have to ask me those kind of questions, okay? Because my answer will always be the same.”

Then, when Virgil continued to remain silent, Patton gained a determined expression and pulled away from him.

Virgil whined a little but didn’t fight against the motion.

“Ask me again.”

He sniffled.

“What?”

“Ask me the question again.”

His eyes widened and he stared at the other for a moment.

As they sat there on the kitchen floor, both of their eyes filled with tears, he felt the tug of a familiar memory in the back of his mind.

Patton seemed to feel it too and he smiled kindly at him.

And, even though he knew the answer, even though he had always known the answer, he asked the question once more.

“Would you care if I disappeared?”

And Patton’s smile grew a little sadder, but remained just as genuine.

“Yes. I would definitely care if you disappeared.”

And Virgil swallowed before asking a second question he’d been too afraid to ask the first time.

“Why?”

And Patton reached out, just like he always had, still smiling and looking at him with honest and loving eyes.

“Because I love you, Virg. We’re family. And you’re my best friend. And I can’t really think of any better reason to care than because you’re you. ”

Then his smile got a little brighter and he reached out with his other hand as well.

“So don’t disappear, okay?”

His hands remained outstretched and his smile remained just as bright, his eyes just as loving, as tears started to steadily flow down his cheeks once more.

“Cus I don’t think I could bare it if you did.”

And Virgil’s shoulders rose up for a moment before he let out a sound that sounded like a strangled keen and fell forward into his best friend’s arms.

And the others, after waiting a moment to make sure that nothing else happened, left the room.

Leaving no one there to notice when the shadows around the room flickered without Virgil’s input.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *laughs maniacally*


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a warning things get moderately graphic and violent and some bad things happen.  
> I'm not joking.  
> Be prepared for things to get messed up.

_**I’M DYING I’M DYING IT HURTS I’M DYING-** _

“Hey, Virg?”

“Yeah, Pat?

“Dinner’s almost ready, kiddo! You better come down soon before all the good pieces are taken!”

“Pieces?”

“Yeah! I said I’d make lasagna today, remember?”

“Oh…um.”

“Virg? Hey, are you alright in there?”

_**“YES!”** _

“…”

“I-I mean…yeah. I’m fine. I just…”

“Virgil?”

“I’m kind of in the middle of something, Pat. Do you mind leaving me to it?”

“In the middle of what?”

“Pat!”

“Wait…oh! OH! Are you-”

“PATTON! Please leave me alone right now! I am seriously begging you!”

A bright giggle leaked through Virgil’s door and it kind of made him want to cry.

“Right. Okay then, Virg. I’ll leave you to your ‘business’. Have fun!”

Patton’s footsteps faded and Virgil waited a few extra seconds before groaning quietly to himself.

Then a wave of pain flooded his senses and he gasped for breath.

**_IT HURTS IT HURTS IT HURTS I’M DYING HELP ME HELP ME HELP IT HURTS-_ **

He slammed a fist into his floor and was quietly thankful that he was too weak at the moment to actually break through it.

His chest heaved as he reached a shaking hand up and into his hair.

There was something wrong.

This wasn’t normal.

Something was happening to him and he had no idea what it was.

_**STOP PLEASE PLEASE DON’T NOT ANYMORE PLEASE STOP IT HURTS IT HURTS I DON’T WANT THIS!** _

Virgil growled and stood from his spot on the floor.

His room was a mess of wrecked furniture and belongings.

Shadows whipped and roiled around angrily and senselessly.

He felt like he was corrupted but he knew that he wasn’t.

He was somehow growing unstable but there was nothing that could possibly be causing that.

**_I NEVER WANTED THIS PLEASE STOP I DON’T WANT TO HURT YOU ANYMORE!_ **

Two hands reached up and started tugging angrily at already messy hair.

Virgil’s growls were only increasing in volume and his room was starting to shake as his voice shifted without him noticing.

His vision started to waver and he felt like he was falling apart.

“Stop it stop it stop it. Stop using his voice! Stop talking like him!  ** _STOP!”_**

##  _**VIRGIL!** _

——————–

A roar filled the house and made everyone in the kitchen jump in fright.

Thomas instantly stood up from his seat, a concerned look on his face.

“VIRGIL?!”

Another roar shook the Mindscape and everyone prepared themselves to either run or surrender themselves as the sound of something breaking rang down from the upstairs hallway.

Then the echoing howls of Virgil’s shadows started to increase in volume as something slammed it’s way quickly towards them.

And, finally, a roiling mass of shadow with two shifting slits of violet for eyes bolted into the room and stopped right in front of them all.

A moment of tense almost silence occurred as the shadow stared at them all, almost uncomprehendingly.

Then something unexpected happened.

The shadow twitched violently and shuddered, it’s body losing it’s shape even more as the sound of horrific and hellish screaming echoed out of it.

Roman gritted his teeth at the noise, Logan had to grab a chair to support himself, Thomas swiftly covered his ears, Deceit took a couple steps back until he was pressed firmly to the wall, and Patton just put a hand up against his temple as he stared worriedly at his best friend.

The screaming only seemed to get worse over time and it started to writhe around on the ground, parts of its body smashing violently around the room to the point of Roman having to spring forward and pull Thomas away as the shadow struck the ground right next to the host.

For a moment, it looked like they would have to simply leave the room and hope that Virgil managed to deal with his instability on his own this time.

But then other shadows suddenly darted into the room and started to surround the large writhing one in the center.

The smaller shadows shrieked at their master and their master roared back its distress as they all pushed against the mass of darkness Virgil had become.

And the others all stared in shock.

This was new.

The shadows that Virgil controlled were technically a part of him, so they usually grew unstable alongside him.

But they seemed to be acting normally.

In fact, if anything, they seemed to be trying to stop Virgil from doing something he might regret.

“Virgil!”

The name was out of Patton’s mouth before he could even really think about what he was doing.

And then everything froze.

The shadow stopped writhing and grew instantly silent.

The shadows around it still held it close, but now a few let out quiet and distorted warbles of concern for their master.

Patton, unsure what else he should do, repeated himself. 

“Virgil?”

And then there was a boom and everyone, the shadows included, was sent flying.

Patton’s back met harshly with the wall behind him, rattling his bones and sending the air right out of him.

He coughed and gasped for breath, his eyes closed as he tried to focus on making his lungs work again.

Then, as he finally took a big gulp of air, something smashed into the wall on either side of him.

He opened his eyes quickly and found himself face to face with the giant mass of shadow and its two glowing violet eye slits.

It stared at him in silence as he tried to take in air.

And, unable to do much else, he simply stared back.

He didn’t panic or try to run away.

Something was wrong with Virgil, he knew that.

His best friend was unstable, for some reason, and his shadows were acting strange.

But this was still Virgil.

This was still the person that spent almost every moment of every day watching over them all and taking care of them.

This was still the person he’d gone to such great lengths to befriend so many years ago.

This was his best friend.

And he trusted him.

No matter what.

So he didn’t move when the shadow started to growl.

He didn’t even blink when it seemed to curl around him more as it’s growls grew in volume and slowly shifted into a constant roaring.

But he did gasp when tendrils of shadow pressed against his sides.

And he cried out when the tendrils wrapped around his middle and squeezed tightly enough to bruise.

“PATTON!”

Several voices shouted out from somewhere else in the room and the shadows started to shriek even more than before.

And Patton screamed as the tendrils tightened even more and slowly lifted him off the ground.

The shadow was screaming too, it’s voice shifting and distorting as it brought the body in it’s grasp closer to itself.

The shadows of it’s own body started to wrap around Patton further and he struggled mindlessly as the immense pain made him temporarily lose the ability to think straight.

Tendrils wrapped around almost every part of his body, squeezing tightly, as everyone else tried everything they could to make the mass of shadow leave the moral side alone.

Patton felt like his entire body was being crushed while simultaneously just ceasing to exist as he was essentially absorbed into the shadowy mass surrounding him.

And, as a single tendril started to wrap slowly around Patton’s neck, he called out instinctively.

**“VIRGIL!”**

And he was dropped like a hot stone.

He cried out as his battered body fell to the ground and coughed violently, tears streaming down his face as he shakily clenched his fists against the floor.

**_“paTTOn…”_ **

He looked up and his eyes widened.

Virgil stood in front of him.

But he looked different.

His form kept flickering.

Losing and gaining certain aspects over and over again.

His hair grew longer and shorter, darkening to black and then changing back to brown over and over again.

His teeth grew sharp like a sharks before reverting back to his usual four fangs.

His clothes would be his normal stitched up hoodie one second then become a sharp looking leather jacket the next.

His eye shadow would disappear and be replaced by a tattooed crack down his face before coming back with a vengeance.

And one of his eyes kept turning completely black, instead of the vibrant purple it usually was.

**_“WhaT haPPENed?”_ **

His body kept twitching and his neck cracked loudly as he turned his head sharply to take in the rest of the room.

His voice grew even more shaky as he looked at Patton once again.

**_“whAT diD I dO?”_ **

And Patton tried to speak.

He tried to tell his best friend that it was okay and that they would figure out what was going on together.

But he found himself coughing instead.

And suddenly there was blood on the floor and the room grew darker.

Virgil took a quick step back.

His eyes seemed to shake in their sockets and his entire body flickered even more than before, his voice practically losing all legibility as he spoke once more.

~~_**“WhAt dID I dO To yOu?!”** _ ~~

And Patton reached a hand out toward him as he tried to calm his coughing enough to speak.

Virgil just took more steps back, his form growing more unstable and the shadows around him growing more distressed as he did so.

“virgil…”

Patton’s voice was shaky and rough, but it was at least audible.

And it made Virgil freeze in his tracks, which Patton hoped was a good thing.

After a second of staring at each other, he smiled and Virgil’s eyes grew wide.

“It’s okay. You didn’t mean it. You wouldn’t hurt me on purpose, Virgil. It’s okay.”

Virgil’s chest started to heave in quick breaths and his form flickered to the point of being almost formless.

Patton clenched his teeth and forced himself to stand up.

He continued to smile.

“Virg, it’s okay. I’m still okay. You hurt me a little, but it’s okay. You stopped. That’s what’s important, alright? You didn’t mean it, and you stopped. You-”

**_~~“I WANTED TO KILL YOU.”~~ _ **

Patton’s eyes widened and he froze.

That wasn’t Virgil’s voice.

He’d heard Virgil’s voice in all of it’s forms and could recognize even the most distorted version of it easily.

But this voice was completely different.

It was similar.

But not quite right.

And the shadowy side had finally lost the ability to maintain features again.

His body had returned to it’s formless shadow state.

But it wasn’t exactly right either.

It took a step toward him and Patton twitched but remained still, the others all watching with varying levels of alarm and concern from the sidelines, where they were held within the protective embrace of several warbling shadows.

**_~~“I WAS GOING TO KILL YOU.”~~ _ **

Patton swallowed as he realized what was wrong with this shadow’s form.

**_~~“I WANTED TO HURT YOU.”~~ _ **

It moved differently.

Instead of the fast roiling tendrils Virgil usually had, it seemed to be made of slowly shifting vines that oozed black sludge.

**_~~“I STILL WANT TO.”~~ _ **

“Why?”

The shadow’s eye slits contracted for a moment.

Patton stared at it dead on, his stomach flipping as he realized just how wrong this entire situation actually was.

Then he had to resist the urge to actually vomit as something horrible happened.

Virgil had no other features in his shadow form than his eye slits.

Or, at the very least, he never used them while he was around the others.

But this  **‘Thing’**  that looked like his friend apparently had something else.

Because a part of it split open with a disgusting ripping noise and a rough hole of a mouth, filled to the brim with shadowy gnarled teeth and an overly long tongue that oozed darkness, turned up in a facsimile of a smile. 

**_~~“BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT.”~~ _ **

And suddenly the room was filled with light and the shadow screamed out in agony.

Virgil had never had a weakness to light.

Patton ran towards the hole in the universe that had suddenly appeared and only looked back once to send the shadow flying with a push of his own light magic.

It shrieked again and Patton had to remind himself that this definitely wasn’t his best friend he was hurting as shadows quickly flew past him, carrying the others away from the Thing that had invaded their home.

As the final shadow rushed through the brilliantly lit portal, it grabbed Patton as carefully as it could without breaking stride and pulled him into the other side as the Thing roared while lunging toward the portal after him.

Only for the portal to close right before it could get through.

As soon as the portal was closed and Patton was safely on the other side, he was surrounded by shadows and lights alike as the lavender lights from the willows canopy crowded around him alongside the shadows that usually followed Virgil everywhere.

He gasped as both entities pushed a little harshly against his injured abdomen before willow branches were suddenly carrying him gently away from the frantic creatures and over towards Thomas and the others.

“Patton!”

Thomas’ shout of distress was followed by Logan quickly and carefully moving his hands all over his body to give it a quick check.

After a moment of doing this, while the other three watched in concern, he moved his hands away from Patton and readjusted his glasses with a sigh.

“It looks like three of your ribs and your right wrist are broken but, past that, you seem to just have some heavy bruising. It shouldn’t take too long to heal, though you should likely attempt to hurry up the progress of your ribs with some sleep before we begin to handle whatever is happening with Virgil.”

And Patton bit his lip and looked back at the place where the portal had only just been.

“Yeah. Whatever’s going on…”

A hand came to rest gently, but firmly, on his shoulder and Patton turned back to see Roman looking at him with a serious and determined expression.

It made Patton want to smile.

Virgil would have been proud to see a look like that on the Prince’s face.

“We  **will**  find a way to fix it. No matter what it may be. We’ll find a way to save him.” Roman paused with a small smile. “Just as  **he** would if  **we**  were in his position.”

And Patton smiled too, before leaning forward to rest his head against the Knight in training’s chest.

“Right. Thanks, Roman.”

Patton didn’t even move, but took a slightly sharp breath as the other very carefully picked him up and started waking towards the base of the willow tree.

“Not a problem, Padre. I meant every word.”

Then Roman placed him gently into a cushioned alcove and gave him a smile as he remained crouched at his side.

“Now, you should sleep for now while we consider our options. I promise to wake you before we make any final decisions.”

The moral side smiled at the creative side and relaxed tiredly against the cushions, his eyes already starting to droop shut.

“Okay. G’night, Roman”

“Goodnight. Sleep well.”

And, for the time being, the world disappeared.

——————–

**_NO!_ **

**_I’M SORRY I’M SORRY I’M SO SORRY I DIDN’T MEAN IT I DIDN’T WANT TO I DIDN’T WANT THINGS TO END LIKE THIS I’M SO SORRY!_ **

##  **_ANXIETY!_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really know what else to say other than, I am actually quite genuinely sorry about this.  
> I didn't really want things to go down this way either.  
> But they did.  
> So, yeah.  
> Legitimately sorry.


End file.
